The Best Music of 2023

It’s New Music Friday and it’s finally here - My best of 2023! I chose a top 24 (since we’re heading into 2024) and you should know as in years past, there is no particular order and certainly no number one. It was a great year in music!

Here’s the Spotify playlist, Best of 2023. It’s got two songs from each artist so plenty to sink your teeth into! Enjoy!

The Best of 2023 Mixtape

• Paramore - This Is Why - I love Paramore. I think they’re one of the best bands out there. Their sound continues to evolve, and on their first album in six years the band seems to have put the best of all they’ve done into one place. They’ve got dance-punk-pop songs along with atmospheric ballads. They’re not playing it safe with true radio friendly songs, instead opting for complex music that stretches the listeners ear.

• boygenius - the record - The supergroup boygenius (Julien Baker, Phoebe Bridgers, Lucy Dacus) does exactly what you’d want from putting three amazing singer/songwriters together - They amplify each other, they feed off of each other's talent and create a near masterpiece. The trading of lead vocals and styles flows so well with lush gorgeous arrangements and wonderful harmonizing.

• El Michels Affair & Black Thought - Glorious Game - Clocking in at just over 30 minutes, the hot collab or El Michels Affair (producer Leon Michels) and The Roots’ Black Thought drips of smooth R&B with fantastic chops from one of the best MC’s out there. The music serves the vocals and there’s no lingering around on a song. It’s tight, it’s hot and it’s one of the best of 2023.

• Ruston Kelly - The Weakness - One of my favorite “country” artists, Kelly has produced a fantastic “comeback” album. After a number of major life upheavals (divorce, addiction), he leaned into his love of Americana and pop-punk to create some sort of emo album with enough grit under his nails. Taking risks this time around (working with Nate Mercereau who previously worked with Lizzo and Leon Bridges), Kelly created a fantastic album.

• The Aces - I’ve Loved You For So Long - As close to being my album of the year (they were my most listened to on Spotify), the third album from the band that hails from Provo, Utah is fantastic. A mature release that combines the gorgeous synth-pop sounds from the 80s with the pop-rock guitar sounds of the 00s. The band is writing songs about relationships and reconnecting with your younger self.

• Foo Fighters - But Here We Are - Grief is, sadly, a fantastic muse for music. When loss happens directly in the band, it drives the knife a little deeper in. For Foo Fighters, the loss of Taylor Hawkins was that knife. And their new album finds them working through the grief with fantastic moving tracks. This album is some of the best work the Foos have ever done.

• Joy Oladokun - Proof of Life - I love this new album from Oladokun, who shows major growth in her writing from her debut a few years ago. The early DIY approach has been replaced by working with some top talent in the producer and co-songwriting mode (Mike Elizondo, Dan Wilson and others). Her smokey voice delivers song after song. Her writing is vulnerable and encompasses folk-pop mixed with contemporary R&B.

• Bethany Cosentino - Natural Disaster - The debut solo album from Cosentino (lead singer from the band Best Coast) is a big leap forward from her band’s early work. The album draws inspiration from classic country and glossy pop-rock. Working with the fantastic Butch Walker, Cosentino takes her love of Bonnie Raitt, Stevie Nicks and other classic female artists, to create a catchy cluster of songs that touch on motherhood, mortality and musings on love.

• Genesis Owusu - Struggler - I don’t normally use this term, but this new album from Owusu is a banger. It’s an eclectic release from the Ghanaian-born musician. Largely inspired by Beckett’s Waiting for Godot, the new album centers on a short story Owusu wrote about The Roach - a character navigating impending doom and environmental disaster. I’m reminded of TV on the Radio when I hear many of Owusu’s tracks - the right amount of R&B with post-punk. He’s building off of his impressive debut from 2021 (that ended on my Best of list).

• Bully - Lucky For You - I love fuzzy guitars that layer on top of pop songs and that’s just what you get with Bully’s 2023 release. There’s regret and rage and all kinds of angst filling the songs here. It reminds me of the 1990s when angst was turned into infectious songs and this one is full of them. Check out them hooks and rage at the world with Bully.

• Olivia Rodrigo - Guts - How can this just be her second album? The maturity and boldness far outweighs her years in the music industry. It’s stunningly good and shows great wisdom of life growth on the part of Rodrigo. Graduating from straight-up pop music to more complex tracks that touch on folk-pop, harder edged pop rock and so much more.

• Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit - Weathervanes - Jason Isbell is fast becoming a true American poet laureate. His lyrics take you to all corners of unsettled feelings and while it’s a more mellow release than previous albums, the focus of the band is tight and special. The stories that are woven throughout are meant to be listened to over and over. You won’t tire of this one, maybe his best since his breakthrough Southeastern ten years ago. Oh and “Cast Iron Skillet” is my favorite song of the year. 

• Margo Price - Strays - Margo Price has done it again. There’s a confident groove and swagger to Price’s latest. She and her husband went on an extended mushroom trip to write much of her latest. It’s chock full of Price from the past and where she’s heading, a cosmic-country Southern rock classic.

• Black Pumas - Chronicles of a Diamond - The latest album from the Austin, Texas band is sweet-ass soulful rock music that moves me. It’s built off of the songs from their debut that shows not just great growth in songwriting but in musicianship and the great vocal range of lead singer Eric Burton.

• Hardwicke Circus - Fly the Flag - A new band, a new album for me and it’s a true joy to listen to. A blend of rock and roll, Motown and 21st Century pop, the songs are catchy, classic and sound like a band that works so well together and is comfortable with each other. And did I mention that Dave “Stiff Records” Robinson produced it? I expect big things from Hardwicke Circus for years to come.

• Lydia Loveless - Nothing’s Gonna Stand In My Way Again - Loveless is one of the best singer-songwriters coming out of the country-rock genre and has delivered another fantastic album full of breakups, struggles and heartbreak. You’d think you would come out feeling like shit, but you bond with her in the lyrics and music on each song. Just like the album cover itself, the songs are vulnerable and open.

• Holly Humberstone - Paint My Bedroom Black - There’s a lot of traffic in the pop music world with so many artists getting lost in the shuffle. So let me elevate the latest album from Holly Humberstone. Themes are very similar to other artists in the same genre, but what drew me into this album was Holly’s voice and how it plays so well with both the simple and the complex musical arrangements on each track.

• Zach Bryan - Zach Bryan - Bryan is a poet and he knows it. He’s a storyteller who crafts country songs that toe the line between radio friendly and true Americana. His vulnerability screams here with songs about fame, death and addiction. From sparse, late night road trip songs to soulful odes to small towns and fine women, this has it all.

• McKinley Dixon - Beloved! Paradise! Jazz!? - The combo of jazz and rap isn’t new and the new crew picking things up over the last few years have really done a great job combining the two. One of the best is Richmond-based artist McKinley Dixon. There is great urgency and velocity to the tracks (the full release comes in at just under 30 minutes). The album title is named after three of Toni Morrison’s most celebrated works and while I can’t compare his writing and lyrics to hers, Dixon certainly has a sharp pen and tongue and throws some wonderfully imaginative and stark lyrics and stories. 

• Mitski - The Land is Inhospitable and So Are We - I’ve always been on the fence about Mitski, some of her previous work has been great, some has just been meh - that all ends this year. Her latest release touches on the softer side with plenty of acoustic strings and country music, all while Mitski ruminates on the darker side of things all while focused on love in a dark world.

• Noname - Sundial - Another new artist for me, Noname produced a riveting album this year. Her rap style is fantastic - reminds me of a poetry slam with cool jazz music behind it. Her lyrical flow is smooth as she dives into moral questions and politics, yet remains playful in a tour-de-force of music.

• Caroline Polachek - Desire, I Want To Turn Into You - Along with Rodrigo and Humberstone, Caroline Polachek’s latest is perfect pop music. At the core of the release is her voice, which acts like another instrument that drives each song, like chapters in a book. From sonic to quiet and everything in between, it’s Polachek who artfully drives these songs about the human experience.

• Killer Mike - Michael - Killer Mike has done great work with Run the Jewels and has released a bold release diving back into his roots from the south, taking inspiration from gospel to trap. His rapping is powerful and his lyrics are deep and spiritual. There’s confession and preaching both from Killer Mike, it’s a great step for him, away from the group that helped raise his star, yet an opportunity for his singular star to shine.

• Christian McBride’s New Jawn - Prime - Christian McBride has had quite the career - For the Philly-born jazz bassist who has done it all in the jazz world, this is the second release for the quartet. For the unfamiliar (like myself), the name derives from the black Philadelphian slang term jawn meaning “thing,” as in “do your thing.” There’s a lot to love as McBride and the band take influences from the greats: Dolphy, Coltrane and Coleman.